Cutting inserts are now widely used as the part of the tool that does the actual cutting. The cutting inserts are held on recesses or seat portions of the shank of the tool holder in a manner facilitating their replacement as they are worn.
Many holding devices have been tried since the first use of cutting inserts. Among the classic cutting inserts holding devices are external clamps and internal screw holders.
Clamping arrangements must hold the insert tightly and reliably in place overcoming the stresses and strains of the cutting operation. Ideally an insert clamping arrangement should also enable precise replacement of the removed insert without requiring precision measurements. The insert clamping means should be designed to minimize interference with the flow of chips generated during the cutting operation. Present day tool insert holding arrangements lack some or all of the above named features. For example, some of the tool holder arrangements use clamps which interfere with the flow of the chips. Other of the tool holder arrangements use clamps which cannot reliably hold the cutting insert against the stresses and strains of the cutting operation. Some of the tool holder arrangements for cutting inserts only apply pressure on two sides of the inserts and therefore the tool inserts often come loose during the cutting operation. Other arrangements hold the inserts reliably; however, when these holding mechanisms are loosened then precise and rigorous measurements are required to replace the insert on the seat indexed into the position prior to removal. This is time consuming and therefore expensive.
It is an object of the present invention to provide new and improved clamping tool holder arrangements for cutting inserts in which the above referred to adversities and disadvantages are subsantially reduced or overcome.